Tamil demonstration over violence in Sri Lanka (From Harrow Times)

Harrow Tamils demonstrate over violence in Sri Lanka

3:32pm Thursday 20th November 2008 in News By Jack Royston

HARROW Tamils joined a demonstration outside Parliament yesterday in protest over violence in Sri Lanka.

Thousands of people gathered in Parliament Square, in central London to lobby MPs over what some claim is an attempted genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government.

Councillor Thaya Idaikkadar, (Lab/Roxeth) who went to the demonstration, said people were getting “carried away with emotions”.

He said: “What's happening there is absolutely terrible. We have compared it to the holocaust. People keep despairing every day, they are sending food and medical aid to everyone.

“A lot of people think the two sides should go back to the negotiating table.”

The LTTE, better known as the Tamil Tigers, is listed as a terrorist organisation in many countries and has been engaged in a war with the Sri Lankan Government for decades.

The group wants a homeland and some say they are the only people protecting Tamils from the Government.

The protesters called on the British foreign office to intervene in the conflict and recognise what they describe as the Tamil right to self determination.

Cllr Idaikkadar said the Downing Street is giving aid and claims to be putting behind the scenes pressure on the Sri Lankans.

He said: “That's all very well and good but when every day people are dying when is the pressure going to work? And how do I know they're putting pressure behind the scenes.”

Amnesty International yesterday accused the Sri Lankan Government of having a policy of blocking humanitarian aid destined for around 300,000 people displaced during the fighting.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a statement, said: “The laying down of their arms and surrendering is the greatest service the LTTE could do to the people in the areas of armed conflict and all peoples of Sri Lanka.”